%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1397023937024730000%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.%%[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/GoneWithTheBlastwave http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gwtb_insert_grenade_here_3343.png]]]][[caption-width-right:350:[[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda It's dangerous to go alone! Take this!]]]]

This is where a tank is on the battlefield and the main protagonists have either used up all their anti-tank weapons or never had any to begin with.

You run up to the tank (hopefully nobody sees you) jump on, kill the guy looking out of the hatch or open the hatch (it's never locked -- just in case the crew does need to get out ''fast'') and then toss down a few grenades before jumping clear of the resulting explosion. Often that last part of the plan doesn't work, making it a HeroicSacrifice.

Should be noted that this was more or less the original use of the MolotovCocktail. In that case, though, you threw them onto the back deck in the hope that the burning gasoline would enter the engine compartment through the air intakes.

Fact of the matter is that second-generation (produced in the 1970-80s) 'main battle tanks' can't be damaged from the outside by anything other than dedicated anti-tank weaponry, and earlier medium- and heavy-tanks could only be disabled or damaged by improvised weapons. Less heavily-armoured vehicles such as light tanks and armoured transports are, however, still vulnerable. For blowing up organic enemies in a similar fashion, see FeedItABomb.

----!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* In the very first episode of ''Anime/{{Madlax}}'', ActionGirl Madlax takes on a light tank, tricks the driver by "disappearing", then when he opens the hatch to look for her, kills him and tosses a grenade down the now-open hatch. And that's just one of the impossibly awesome things she does during that battle sequence.* Subverted in ''Anime/GhostInTheShell''. At the climax, the Major faces off against a SpiderTank using only an assault rifle. She manages to jump up on top of it, but [[spoiler:fails to open the hatch despite pulling so hard she rips one of her own arms off. The tank then grabs her and is about to crush her skull when Batou shows up with actual anti-tank ordnance to save the day at the last second.]]* Played fairly straight in the beginning of ''Manga/{{Appleseed}}'', where Hitomi takes down Bluebeard and his crew while they're busy trying to kill Deunan and Briareos.* King Bradley in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' pulls this, but instead of pulling open the hatch he breaks a hole in the viewing window then shoves the grenade through there.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* This was a favorite tactic of [[{{Comicbook/SgtRock}} Sgt. Rock]].* In ''ComicBook/NthManTheUltimateNinja'', John Doe manages to InsertGrenadeHere by throwing a grenade down the gunbarrel of a tank that is about to shoot him, timing it exactly to match the tank's gunner opening the breach. He manages this feat by a combination of good hearing, good timing, and channeling his memories of zen concentration from playing baseball with his adopted father.* In ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe Special Missions]]'' #3, Leatherneck expertly pops a grenade from his underbarrel grenade launcher in through the open viewport of an APC. This being the comics and not the cartoon, it almost certainly kills the crew.* Sgt. ComicBook/NickFury did it, of course. [[http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3116/2887278820_98ae7e9c4f_b.jpg See here.]]* Kato does it to a tank using a smoke grenade in an issue of Dynamite's ''Franchise/TheGreenHornet'' series. Probably intended as a ShoutOut to the Live Action TV example below.* The Black Rider does this to an APC in MarvelComics ''SixGuns'' mini-series.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* In ''Film/RedDawn1984'' when the group is pinned down by a tank (which doesn't see them) one of the main characters attempts this but gets hurt pretty badly and is unable to complete the task, instead he sets off a smoke grenade so that friendly fire can spot the tank and blow it (and him) up. The same scene also ''inverts'' this trope, as said character's injuries resulted from one of the tank's crew briefly opening the hatch and tossing a grenade onto the tank's exterior.** Occurs earlier while the tank is refueling, and works considerably better.*** That was more a case of [[SomebodySetUpUsTheBomb setting them up the bomb]].* In ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'', the Airborne soldiers trying to hold a bridge don't have much in the way of anti-tank weapons, but are faced with an armored convoy. To fight them, they come up with a StickyBomb: pitch-covered socks filled with explosives, designed to be slung onto tank treads from close range to disable them and block the road. Suffice to say, the results of the sticky bombs are... mixed. (This was TruthInTelevision, including the fairly "mixed" results.)** They also do the traditional 'climb on top and bung a grenade down the hatch' version once the sticky bombs have disabled the tank - it works perfectly, apart from the fact that there's an anti-aircraft gun pointed at the tank, which quickly shreds the soldiers who took it out.* Sometimes done in ''Film/TheDeltaForce'' movies, one of them is done using a MolotovCocktail.* A variant on this in the movie version of ''Film/StarshipTroopers'': Johnny Rico jumps onto the back of a giant bug, blows a hole in its carapace with his gun, and then tosses in a grenade. Much orange and green paint ensues.* In ''Franchise/StarWars'' Luke does this to an AT-AT by grappling up to the underside and cutting a hole in the bottom with a lightsabre.** Jar-Jar does a variation in Phantom Menace with one of those [[BuffySpeak weird electronics-killing water balloon things]] the Gungans have.* ''Film/BattleOfTheBulge'' (1965). Lt. Colonel Kiley (Henry Fonda) shoots the commander of a German tank, climbs up the tank and drops a grenade through the open hatch, killing everyone inside.* The same thing was done in ''Defiance'', Zus arrived with TheCavalry, climbs up from behind the tank, guns down the German tank commander, and drops a grenade into the hatch.* ''Tobruk'' (1967) cleverly put this together with FakeInTheHole for an ingenius German [[TankGoodness tank]] [[HeroStoleMyBike heist]]. {{Antihero}}ic Maj. Donald Craig and his British squadmates empty a hand grenade for use against an approaching Nazi Panzer. Then, they approach the vehicle, kill its machinegunner, popped the hatch open and tossed the dud grenade in. In panic, the rest of the Panzer's crew climbed out of the hatch, only to meet the waiting submachineguns of Craig and company.* Subverted in ''Film/AllTheQueensMen'' - at the start of the film, a Nazi tank is pursuing a double agent that hijacked a second tank. The Nazi tank fires a few shells at the agent's tank, and it stops - one of its crewmen then jumps out of the tank and runs over to the hijacked tank, throws a grenade in, and fires a few bursts into the crew quarters with his submachine gun. He then enters the crew quarters and after a few seconds comes out with a confused look on his face - just in time to see the double agent ride off in the other tank.* In ''{{Film/Avatar}}'', Jake does this with Quaritch's gunship, throwing grenades onto its outer vents. It's not a straight tank example, since it's a flying vehicle, and Jake gets on top of it by means of his GiantFlyer.* [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger Captain America]] performs this on a three-story tall [[StupidJetpackHitler HYDRA]] tank, following it by jumping off of the tank as it explodes.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In the ''Literature/GearsOfWar'' novel, Aspho Fields Helena Stroud does this to help out the air-support but gets snagged on the gun turret while jumping away and ends up getting blow apart.* The Literature/{{Animorphs}} take out a tank this way when time-jumped back to D-Day. Since they were birds at the time, they even managed to bypass the "kill the lookout" step.* MackBolan does this with a tank in Cambodia (#65: Cambodia Clash). The hatch is locked so he has to clamber up the main gun and drop the grenade down the barrel. The scene is depicted on the cover.* Happens all the time in the WW2 SvenHassel and Leo Kessler books, as the German protagonists seldom have a panzerfaust or anti-tank gun when they need one. There are frequent references to tying bundles of hand grenades together for this purpose.** TruthInTelevision. The bundles were known as ''Gebällte Ladung'' (bundle charge), and were designed to defeat armor and fortifications.* The Literature/CiaphasCain novels feature several examples. In ''Cain's Last Stand,'' he is tempted to chew out a pair of cadets who nearly got themselves killed doing it, but he let them off since they lived.** They also reveal they had a contingency plan in case the hatch was closed.** Ragnar does this in the prologue to ''[[SpaceWolf Ragnar's Claw]]''.* ''Literature/TheTripods''. The protagonists are being hauled up into the alien Tripod by its CombatTentacles when one of them throws an AncientArtifact they found in an abandoned cache through the opening hatch. The damage causes the alien atmosphere to vent into the outside world. In the TV miniseries, the boys find themselves underneath the Tripod which is standing on loose slate. They use the grenade to cause a small avalanche that unbalances it, popping the hatch open so they can throw a second grenade inside.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* In one episode of ''Franchise/TheGreenHornet'' ("Seek, Stalk, and Destroy") Kato uses a "tear gas dart", which he throws into the open viewport of a stolen tank in order to force the tank thieves out of the tank and into the open.* A variant shows up in ''[[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 Battlestar Galactica: The Plan]]'', where Anders' resistance team come up with a tactic to lob a small bomb through a hatch, into a Centurion refueling station. Since the group is made of Pyramid players, they do the lobbing bit very well. It's dealing with the Centurions already present that they suck at.** It also highlights that the poor guys are really clueless in real tactics and, as Anders later admits, are just getting their ideas from movies. So, literally [[HollywoodTactics Hollywood]] err... [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Picon]] [[HollywoodTactics Tactics]].* On one episode of ''Series/TheUnit'', Jonas's father was ''very'' belatedly awarded the Silver Star for destroying a tank this way during the UsefulNotes/KoreanWar.* Used in the mid-season finale of ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' as Daryl casually rolls a grenade down the barrel of a tank to blow it up. The driver just manages to get out in time too, not that it increases his life-span much...** TruthInTelevision in that unless his head is sticking up out of the hatch, the driver of an M-60 tank cannot see the ground for at least fifteen feet in front of his tank; Daryl's simply walking up around the corner and in front of the tank without drawing any notice was entirely possible. Also, given the timing of the tank's last shot, its very likely that he caught the tank with the breech open for the next shell to be loaded, meaning that the grenade explosion actually ''would'' reach the tank's interior.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* Happens all the time in ''[[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}} Warhammer 40,000]]''. Any close-combat hits on a vehicle (with the exception of walkers) automatically succeed, and are always resolved as being against the vehicle's rear armor to reflect infantry scrambling around it to find its [[AttackItsWeakPoint weak points]]. While a standard close-combat attack by a typical infantryman will rarely do any damage to even a light vehicle, many can be issued anti-armor grenades specifically for this purpose, such as krak grenades, melta-bombs, and EMP grenades.* Anti-'Mech attacks in ''TabletopGame/{{BattleTech}}'' are essentially this. A conventional or battle armor infantry unit in the same hex as an enemy 'Mech is basically safe from its weapons for the moment (although they still have to worry about its ''feet'', as well as anything its buddies may send their way) and can then try to, rather than fire their own weapons at it normally, either wreck its moving leg joints with shaped charges or actually climb on top of it in an even more dangerous "swarm attack" that lets them keep applying their handheld weapons right up close and personal over successive turns as long as they can manage to hang on.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]* In the first ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'' game, the enemy Mooks would climb onto your Metal Slug, and if not shaken off in time, they would drop a grenade in. Fortunately, it only damaged your slug and not the player. Sometimes they would also block the barrel of your 'Slug with their body, preventing you from firing your cannon properly with their lives.* Master Chief is capable of this on ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' against Wraiths and Scorpions. If he jacks a vehicle from the rear he can plant a grenade the the Wraith's turbine/Scorpion's engine grill and destroy it.** Or he can skip that bit and literally [[{{Badass}} punch the tank until it explodes.]]** Or he can [[{{DoWellButNotPerfect}} punch it enough to kill the pilot]], and then [[{{ExclusiveEnemyEquipment}} steal the vehicle for his own use.]]** Turns out Master Chief isn't the only one who can do this: [=ODSTs=] in [[VideoGame/Halo3ODST the eponymous game]] can as well. They can't punch open tank covers, though, so they just pop them open and drop a grenade in. If you don't have any grenades? They ''improvise''.** Chief does this against a Hunter in part 5 of ''Film/Halo4ForwardUntoDawn'' by jumping onto its back and ramming a frag grenade into the exposed area. The Hunter has an OhCrap moment before exploding.* Snake's first battle against Vulcan Raven in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' was man against tank, so this trope was used to beat it, but without the jumping on the tank part. (One could soften the tank up first by careful Claymore and C4 placement, but that's not nearly as ''badass'').** If you call your support team (other than Campbell that is), they will [[LampshadeHanging comment]] on how ridiculous that was.---> '''Mei Ling''': Snake, you just ''blew up a tank!'' On ''foot!''\\'''Snake''': ...and?** When you revisit the site in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', if you call Otacon at this point, he'll mention that he once asked a veteran soldier once about how one goes about fighting a tank on foot, and was told, "Don't." He then goes on to gush about how awesome Snake was for managing it.* In the opening video of the original ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' an Ork soldier sneaks behind a Dreadnought and manages to attach a limpet mine, blowing it up ''and'' turning the tide of battle in the Ork favor.* ''VideoGame/FurFighters'' has a level set in WW 2 with tanks, the only way to destroy them was to blow up the bridges to get them stuck and then lob in Grenades to blow them up. With the respawning enemies that level was hell, literally.* It happens frequently to tanks in ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'', when the theater's in WWII. In the first game they precede the grenade with a few bursts from a tommy gun for good measure.** A flashback set during the UsefulNotes/SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps2'' has the player doing this to a twin-barreled Soviet tank with a mortar shell.* In ''VideoGame/{{Mercenaries}}'', you can hijack tanks this way.** Which causes some unfortunate FridgeLogic, as you'd assume the frag grenade would probably ruin in the inside... or at least make it very, very messy. Not to mention you can take the driver's sidearm and grenade on their chest multiple times, fail to put the grenade down the hatch, and have to do same thing ''all over again''.*** Part of the animation involves, at least some of the time, headbutting a guy wearing a helmet with your mohawked, bare-headed idiot. You also protect yourself from the blast through the open hatch by putting a finger in one ear. [[RuleOfCool Mercenaries runs on action film rules.]]** A bizarre mod of ''Mercenaries 2'' features Sarah Palin and UsefulNotes/BarackObama as models. In [[http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2008/10/palin-no-longer-rogue-prefers-mercenary-obama-still-badass this video]] you can see the US president preforming this move.* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'', while technically not a tank, Chris Redfield (or Sheva) after stunning the [[GiantEnemyCrab Bioweapon U-8]], has the option of [[ForceFeeding shoving a frag down its throat]].* Part of the FinalBoss battle in ''[[{{Banjo-Kazooie}} Banjo-Tooie]]'' involves firing remote-controlled Clockwork Kazooies into the exhaust hatch of a DrillTank and detonating them over its gearboxes.* Not quite a frag grenade, but in ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'', Alex Mercer [[SuperStrength wrenches the hatch open with his bare hands]] (or just KillAndReplace a soldier to make it easier) and jumps into the tank himself...followed by [[ImAHumanitarian gratuitous amounts of blood spraying out the hatch]]. None of this at all bothers him as he proceeds to drive the tank.* In ''VideoGame/{{Bomberman}} 64'', the Red Mountain boss is ''Hades the War Machine'', a giant robot you fight in the heart of a volcano. If you smack it in the head with a fully-pumped bomb, a panel on the front opens up for a few seconds and reveals the cockpit; tossing a bomb in there gives the player a Gold Card.* In ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'', this is a viable tactic for taking out the reactors of Maximilian's massive Batomys tank. While it would normally take three or four Lancer shots to disable one, a soldier who moves quickly enough can toss a grenade into the hatch and blow it up in a single hit.* ''VideoGame/SteelPanthers: World At War'' has this as an option for dealing with tanks at close range. Sometimes it works. Sometimes you lose the entire infantry squad.* ''VideoGame/BrothersInArms'' used this as the second method of destroying tanks. The first being the far more intelligent "with other tanks".** Semi-subverted in ''Hell's Highway.'' You can no longer run up to the tank and 'nade it right off the bat, as apparently the Germans decided to start locking their hatches shut. But if you have a bazooka team ready, you can have them shoot the tank once, which will knock the hatch open and allow you to insert said grenade. Or you can just have your bazooka team finish the tank off.* The second installment of the ''HeavyGear'' mech-sim game has something like this as part of its opening. Tanks are treated as extremely dire threats to Gears as opposed to being CannonFodder as they usually are in HumongousMecha titles, and after seeing a teammate go down, one pilot jumps up onto the offending hovertank, [[ShootOutTheLock blows off the hatch]], and empties his Gear's main gun into the crew cabin until [[TakingYouWithMe both he and the tank explode]]. Ironically, Gears can carry grenades, so he could have just [[SenselessSacrifice dropped one into the open hatch and jumped off...]]* ''VideoGame/RogueSquadron III: Rebel Strike'' puts a twist on the Battle of Hoth level. Instead of how most ''Star Wars'' games have you do the tie-up-the-AT-AT-with-a-towcable ''thing'', it's set up as a ground mission after Luke gets shot down. You have to kill the [=AT-ATs=] by doing Luke's little trick in the movie.* In ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefront'', if you are driving a vehicle, you will notice grenades bouncing off your tank and doing very small amounts of damage. It does make it hard to pick up a copilot though.** The exception is if they toss concussion grenades, which stick to tanks and do more damage, or if you're playing the sequel, where the normal grenades are given the ability to stick, but are still individually weaker than a rocket.* This is how Gordon Freeman deals with the Combine autogun in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2: Episode Two''. Originally he was meant to simply shut it off with a switch, but the designers decided it would be more satisfying to straight-up destroy it.* ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsTwo'' has Alex Mason climb aboard a Soviet tank, engage in a brief fistfight with the commander of the attack, and throw a [[UpToEleven mortar]] [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill round]] into the tank. Boom.* The cinematic trailer for ''Videogame/PlanetSide 2'' shows a [[MegaCorp New Conglomerate]] light assault trooper killing the exposed gunner of a [[TheEmpire Terran Republic]] Prowler and then tossing a grenade down the tank's hatch to blow it up. However, TrailersAlwaysLie, as in-game, the secondary gun is controlled remotely (no exposed hatches), and regular grenades are harmless to tanks and other heavy vehicles.* ''[[Videogame/MechWarrior MechWarrior Living Legends]]'' has completely enclosed cockpits for its [[HumongousMecha BattleMechs]], which makes tossing [[StickyBomb C8 sticky grenades]] onto the canopy one of the favorite tactics of [[PoweredArmor BattleArmor users]]. Crippled battlemechs, however, are easy pickings, as cockpit canopies are destroyed if the pilot uses his EjectionSeat or someone cores [[SnipingTheCockpit through the canopy and kills the pilot]] to [[GrandTheftPrototype steal it]]; simply hurl an [[KillItWithFire Inferno grenade]] onto the lap of the pilot and watch in glee as the pilot has about a quarter second to realize he's doomed.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]* Classical "shoot the machine-gunner, climb on top, drop in a charge" version done by the Reds against the Yellows in ''Webcomic/GoneWithTheBlastwave'' [[http://www.blastwave-comic.com/index.php?p=comic&nro=58 #52]].[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* One of the ARC Troopers uses this tactic to take out a droid tank in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars''. However, he didn't have any grenades. So he blasted his way into the tank, then shot it up from the inside with his gun that fired explosions, and jumped out. It worked.** Yoda did it as well, and though he had a lightsabre, it worked even better.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* After the German invasion of the Soviet Union failed to produce the intended immediate collapse of the Red Army, the Germans found themselves woefully short of infantry anti-tank weapons to counter the vast fleets of increasingly powerful Soviet armour. To solve this problem the Germans produced a number of training films that mostly consisted of ways individual soldiers could jump up on a tank and disable it with whatever materials and weapons they had at hand, including hand grenades.** One they did have was the ''Geballte Ladung'', which was basically a standard stick grenade taken UpToEleven by the attachment of 6 additional grenade charges wired to the center one. It could destroy or disable light tanks through the force of its blast alone.** There's an example of a Soviet [[MightyGlacier KV-2]] [[MadeOfIron heavy tank]] taking ''over a hundred'' hits from German weapons (and destroying two dozen German armored vehicles) before stopping, only to [[{{Determinator}} continue moving when infantry approached]]. The crew was killed only after someone managed to climb the tank and jam a grenade through a hole in the armor. At that stage in the war, the Germans had nothing that could penetrate a KV-2's armor except 88 and 105mm anti-aircraft guns.* This was the only way most Japanese soldiers could defeat Allied tanks late in war. The Sherman, although considered relatively mundane and underprotected in the European theater, was much stronger in the Pacific theater due to the Japanese military's shortage of anti-tank weapons. Extrapolating from the more successful Kamikaze program, Japanese soldiers employed ''nikudan'' (literally "meat bullet", HeroicSacrifice with a bundle of grenades or other explosives) attacks. One famous example featured a Japanese soldier charge an American tank, which promptly drove away faster than he could run. The tank traversed its turret...** The Japanese standard became a simultaneous attack by ten men, most of whom would be killed in the attempt. The standard response was for tanks with [[MoreDakka coaxially-mounted machine guns]] to [[CombatPragmatist turn their turrets on each other]]. It was used by British Centurion tanks being 'hugged' by Chinese soldiers with similarly non-existent ranged anti-tank weaponry during the Korean War, and occasionally in Vietnam (though the Vietcong usually did not resort to such desperate measures against US or Australian tanks).** The infantry tactic was also used, with a similar rate of success, by Iran during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980's.* During ''Barbarossa'' the Soviets experimented with training dogs to associate the underside of tanks with food, then strapping mines to their backs and setting them loose when conducting counter-attacks against German panzer forces. Unfortunately for them, due to not having genuine German tanks to train them with (they used their own tanks mocked up to look like German ones - most of the following confusion likely came from the real deal running on petrol engines rather than diesel that they would have become familiar with the scent of), most of the dogs sought out their own tanks instead. The Germans caught on very quickly in any case, shooting all dogs on sight upon hearing of it. * The "Molotov cocktail across the engine grate" version is averted by the US M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank. The engine runs hotter than a Molotov can burn. (This makes it a beautiful target for anyone with even the most rudimentary thermal-imaging equipment, however; win some, lose some.)** Luckily, the Abrams is also tough enough to survive hits there - MadeOfIron doesn't seem an adequate description.*** A jihadi who tried to suicide bomb an M2 Bradley in Iraq and only managed to [[PinkMist paint it a nasty shade of pink]].** One (ageing) variant of an infantry-portable, disposable Light Antitank Weapon is meant to be fired at the engines, whereupon it ignites a thermal charge to burn out the engine. The basic mechanism works a bit like a high-tech RPG variant - however, as shown in a briefing video, this weapon has also proven to be extremely effective at cooking its crew alive if it managed to penetrate the crew cabin instead.** Thermite Grenades are designed for this. Not actually used in combat, they allow for combat engineers to disable allied equipment they have to abandon, or to permanently disable enemy equipmentn. One of these stuck in an engine block can melt it almost completely.*** Such charges (they usually aren't thrown) are also used in sabotage missions against e.g. enemy artillery guns -- scatter or kill the defenders and they can come back, but if you plant a thermite grenade in the breech or barrel of the gun it's never going to fire again.* Dedicated anti-armour hand grenades working on the shaped-charge principle ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RKG-3_anti-tank_grenade example]]) are becoming obsolete as main battle tank armour improves, though they'll still make a mess of a Humvee or a light APC, but the most effective ranged anti-infantry weapon tanks carry demands someone stand up in the roof hatch and swing a machine gun around. If you can get close enough without being spotted, a well-thrown fragmentation grenade can still kill the turret crew and trash the interior badly enough to take a week to fix, though this is ''very'' far from the end of your problems; [[CarFu there is a reason tank crews refer to enemy infantry as "crunchies".]]** This is also why nearly every tank out there today carries a "coaxial" machine gun - a secondary antipersonnel weapon that lets the tank stay buttoned up and still engage infantry. It's fixed parallel along the gun, and is relatively limited in where you can shoot it, and doesn't have the best visibility - hence the upper guns as well.*** And some are even getting remote weapon mounts controlled by a joystick and screen from behind the armour. Think the machine gun mount from ''Film/TheJackal'' but with a greater range of movement.* Tanks generally have a bolt on the inside and an external "lock" (two holes for a padlock).** In 1941 Stalin approved the formation of Red Army versions of the German 'Strafbataillons' (Punishment batallion) for deserters and cowards, with their discipline being ensured by close oversight from the NKVD ([[StateSec the fire service, police, secret police, and border-guard organisation]]). These weren't used for the exploitation or even the breakthrough phases of combat, but for the ''assault''-phase alone - and to initiate it to boot. For uprooting the German defences they needed direct-fire artillery, provided by yet more Punishment Batallion troops crewing the requisite tanks and assault-guns. At least a few of the hatches on these, and the Punishment Batallion air-support aircraft (also reserved for the assault-phase), were padlocked from the outside.** Soviet WWII-era [[CoolTank T-34]] crews had to open the hatch when firing to vent the smoke from its powerful (for the time being) cannon until this problem was solved in T-34-85. Probably a lot of early tanks had similar problems.** Visibility from inside the tank was usually horrible, especially during World War II. Tank commanders (and sometimes drivers) usually preferred to operate "unbuttoned" to get a better view of the battlefield, even when fighting the tank and under enemy fire. The only time when the hatch was always shut was under enemy artillery fire; otherwise it depended on the whims of the TC, but accurate sniper fire or a machine gun usually qualified as reasons to close up. This made the commander more vulnerable and risked a grenade, but overall made the tank much less vulnerable on balance; you can't protect yourself against things you can't see. Modern tanks, with commander's cupolas as standard and much better optics, rarely even get near combat unbuttoned unless the TC wants to use his external machine gun.* Modern tanks are much faster, some of them able to travel at or near highway speeds (the British Challenger tank can travel up to 60 mph easily). On an open battlefield, good luck hopping on one of those. In an urban setting, the tank might have to slow down and also risks being blocked in somehow.* Modern tanks are built with remotely controlled turret-mounted machine guns and/or grenade launchers, and can fire various anti-infantry weapons without opening the hatch. Tanks can use Canister Shells (basically really big shotgun shells) to "scratch each others' backs" if enemy infantry swarms them. The tungsten balls fired by the shells can't do anything to the tanks' armor, but do plenty to squishy infantry trying to pry a hatch open.** The German [=JPz=] 38(t) 'Hetzer' had a remote MG turret in 1944. Many other German tanks mounted a Nahverteidigungswaffe grenade projector for close defense.** The famous German design for a gun that shot round corners was actually used this way - a machine-gun firing upwards from inside the tank through the ninety degrees bent barrel could be swivelled through 360 degrees to sweep a tank exterior. The bullet would fragment as it passed through the curve, making it even more effective at the extremely close ranges it was used for.** Designs for the [=M60A2=] had such a cupola turret as well.* Don't have a grenade? Plenty of alternatives:** There is a story about how LaResistance in France managed to steal a German tank just by chucking a potato down the hatch. The crew thought it was a grenade and ran away, leaving the resistance fighters to assume command of it.** This tactic was also used by an American soldier who had been pinned down by one of the fearsome German Tiger tanks. Out of grenades and out of ammo, he fished around in his pocket to find only one thing left: an apple given to him the previous day by a grateful villager. Thinking fast, he waited until the enemy tank was distracted, ran up to it, threw open the hatch, and chucked the apple in. The Germans, thinking it was a grenade, understandably freaked out, and the American soldier used the momentary panic to retreat back to his comrades before the German crew realized what had just happenned.** One unconventional tactic used by Allied troops during World War II against the German Panther tank (by both tanks and infantry) was to lob a smoke grenade on top of its engine compartment. While heavily armored and formidably armed compared to contemporary Allied tanks, the Panther was notoriously prone to engine fires due to design flaws. The grenade, which did produce significant heat, could at least convince the crew inside that the engine might be on fire (and had a small chance of actually starting an engine fire), causing them to bail out or at least panic enough to give the Allied soldiers the time to take further actions.** Much more recently, during a NATO field exercise in Denmark: a particularly pissed-off British Para managed to lob a thunderflash (pyrotechnic designed to simulate a grenade) right into the open hatch of a German Army APC with a full complement of uncharacteristically dozy Panzergrenadiers inside. In the confined space, it ruptured the eardrums of thirteen German soldiers. The Bundeswehr was not amused and compensation was paid. The errant Para was officially bollocked, but privately congratulated by his Colonel for the accuaracy of his aim and for teaching the Jerries a good lesson - never drive in a combat zone with the lid open.* Subverted during [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Heemeyer Marvin Heemeyer]]'s "Killdozer" rampage. A police officer threw a grenade into its exhaust pipe, but it detonated with no effect. Doesn't help that it was actually a flash-bang.* Even before the age of precision munitions, savvy warship designers were concerned about the possibility of a bomb or artillery shell going down a ship's smokestack [[ImprobableAimingSkills through blind luck]]. What's at the bottom of the smokestack? [[AttackItsWeakPoint The boilers which power the ship]], and which are necessarily located very near the ship's [[ShootTheFuelTank coal or oil stores.]] The solution was simple enough: Install armored grates inside the funnels to block admission. [[StarWars A trick the Galactic Empire could have made good use of.]]